Learn Hardcore Greek: Στο ραδιόφωνο ακούω συχνά μια εκπομπή για την πολιτική, αλλά μερικές φορές κουράζομαι. - On the radio I often listen to a program about politics, but sometimes I get tired.

In modern Greek, σε + το → στο, σε + τον → στον, σε + την → στην/στη, etc.
So Στο ραδιόφωνο literally means “in/on the radio” and is the normal way to say “on the radio”.

You could also hear Ακούω ραδιόφωνο (without σε and without article), which means more generally “I listen to the radio” (not to a specific station or device).

Does ακούω mean “I hear” or “I listen (to)”? How can I say “I am listening”?

ακούω covers both “I hear” and “I listen (to)”, depending on context.

Ακούω μουσική. = I listen to music.
Ακούω έναν θόρυβο. = I hear a noise.

Greek doesn’t have a separate continuous form like “I am listening”.
Both “I listen” and “I’m listening” are usually just ακούω in the present tense.
Context (or extra words like τώρα = now) shows whether it’s a one‑time action or a habit.

Why is συχνά after the verb (ακούω συχνά) and can I move it?

συχνά means “often” and is an adverb. Greek word order is fairly flexible.

All of these are possible and natural:

Στο ραδιόφωνο ακούω συχνά μια εκπομπή…
Στο ραδιόφωνο συχνά ακούω μια εκπομπή…
Συχνά ακούω μια εκπομπή στο ραδιόφωνο…

Placing συχνά:

right after the verb (ακούω συχνά) is very common,
before the verb (συχνά ακούω) can slightly emphasize the “often”.

The meaning does not change much; it’s mostly about rhythm and emphasis.

Why is it μια εκπομπή and not ένα εκπομπή?

Because εκπομπή is feminine.

Greek has three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and the indefinite article agrees with the gender:

ένας (masc.) → ένας φίλος
μια / μία (fem.) → μια εκπομπή
ένα (neut.) → ένα βιβλίο

εκπομπή ends in -ή, which is a very common feminine ending, so it takes μια.
ένα is only used with neuter nouns.

Why do we say μια εκπομπή για την πολιτική and not just μια εκπομπή πολιτικής?

In Greek, the usual way to say “a show about X” is:

μια εκπομπή για + [noun in the accusative]

So:

μια εκπομπή για την πολιτική = a show about politics
μια εκπομπή για τα ταξίδια = a show about travel

A structure like εκπομπή πολιτικής would sound more like a formal, technical label (“a politics broadcast” as a category), and even then it’s not very natural in everyday speech.
For general meaning “about”, για is the normal preposition to use.

Why is it για την πολιτική and not για η πολιτική or just για πολιτική?

για always takes the accusative case, so the article must be in the accusative:
- nominative: η πολιτική
- accusative: την πολιτική
Therefore: για την πολιτική, not για η πολιτική.
The article την can be omitted in some contexts (για πολιτική), especially in headlines or more general/abstract statements.
But including the article with abstract nouns (like η πολιτική, “politics”) is very common and sounds natural here.

So για την πολιτική is both grammatically correct and stylistically normal.

Why does την in την πολιτική have an extra -ν at the end?

The -ν in την (and τον) is a movable ν that is:

always kept before vowels, and
usually kept before certain consonants (traditionally: π, τ, κ, μπ, ντ, γκ, ξ, ψ and double consonants).

Since πολιτική starts with π, writing την πολιτική follows the standard rule.

In everyday speech and informal writing, some people drop the -ν more often (e.g. τη μαμά), but την πολιτική is the “careful” and school-taught form.

What is the difference between αλλά and μα, and why is there a comma before αλλά?

αλλά means “but” and is the standard conjunction used in most registers.

μα also means “but”, but is more colloquial/poetic and less common in neutral written Greek.

So:

…, αλλά μερικές φορές κουράζομαι. = “…, but sometimes I get tired.”

The comma before αλλά is normal in Greek when:

you join two clauses/sentences:
- Ακούω συχνά μια εκπομπή για την πολιτική, αλλά μερικές φορές κουράζομαι.

Without a full clause after αλλά, a comma is less typical, but in this sentence it is correct and natural.

What does μερικές φορές literally mean, and can it move around in the sentence?

μερικές φορές literally means “some times” and corresponds to English “sometimes”.

μερικές = some (feminine plural)
φορές = times (plural of φορά)

It behaves like an adverbial phrase, so it can move:

Αλλά μερικές φορές κουράζομαι.
Αλλά κουράζομαι μερικές φορές.
Μερικές φορές κουράζομαι.

All are correct; the first puts a bit more emphasis at the beginning on “sometimes”.

Related expressions:

πολλές φορές = many times / often
καμιά φορά = sometimes, occasionally (slightly more colloquial)

What does the ending -ομαι in κουράζομαι show, and is there an active form?

The ending -ομαι marks the middle/passive voice in the present tense.

κουράζω = I tire (someone)
- Κουράζω το παιδί. = I tire the child.
κουράζομαι = I get tired / I become tired (myself)

So κουράζομαι is like a reflexive or intransitive form: “I get tired” rather than “I tire someone else”.

Conjugation (present):

εγώ κουράζομαι
εσύ κουράζεσαι
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό κουράζεται
εμείς κουραζόμαστε
εσείς κουράζεστε
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά κουράζονται

What is the difference between κουράζομαι and είμαι κουρασμένος?

κουράζομαι = I get tired / I become tired (focus on the process or repeated experience)
- Μερικές φορές κουράζομαι. = Sometimes I get tired.
είμαι κουρασμένος = I am tired (focus on the resulting state)
- Είμαι κουρασμένος. = I am (feeling) tired.

In your sentence, μερικές φορές κουράζομαι suggests that the show about politics sometimes makes me tired (I get tired while listening).
If you said μερικές φορές είμαι κουρασμένος, you’d just be stating “sometimes I am tired” in general, not necessarily because of that show.

Can I change the word order, for example: Συχνά ακούω στο ραδιόφωνο μια εκπομπή για την πολιτική, αλλά κουράζομαι μερικές φορές?

Yes. Greek allows quite a bit of word-order flexibility. Your variants are grammatically fine, for example:

Συχνά ακούω στο ραδιόφωνο μια εκπομπή για την πολιτική, αλλά μερικές φορές κουράζομαι.
Ακούω συχνά μια εκπομπή για την πολιτική στο ραδιόφωνο, αλλά κουράζομαι μερικές φορές.

The main rules you’re obeying:

Word endings (not position) show the grammatical roles.
Keep multi‑word expressions together: στο ραδιόφωνο, για την πολιτική, μερικές φορές.
Maintain natural rhythm: adverbs often go near the verbs they modify.

Changing the order mostly changes emphasis (what comes earlier is more prominent), not the core meaning.